Muslim-American freedom of religion under fire

Setting the world on edge with his plan to burn copies of the Quran on the anniversary of 9/11, Pastor Terry Jones stated on Thursday he would “suspend” the event.

Whether he decides to burn the Quran or not, Jones has already achieved his goals and has gained his 15 minutes of fame. It all began with Jones’ tweet on July 12: “9/11/2010 Int Burn a Quran Day.”

The rise of a tweet from Gainesville to global news is a story of disgust and hatred utilizing social media networks.Before the speedy spread of news on the Internet, an ignorant, detestable individual such as Jones would have publicized his intentions locally, and would have gone unnoticed by the rest of the world.

How did such a fringe figure become world news? It’s a shame that lunatic characters like Jones are receiving worldwide attention, because that is just what they’re craving: publicity.

We must understand that the plan to burn the holy Quran on 9/11 is completely contrary to our values as Americans. Although what he planned isn’t illegal, it would be extremely hurtful to United States service men and women and to our Muslim-American population.

When someone tries to tell Muslims that they are not allowed to practice their religion wherever they choose, he or she should understand how a society that acknowledges Jones’ freedom of speech must also recognize their freedom of religion.

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Here are two British Prime Ministers who were Islamophobes. Men who took the time to learn about the true colors of Islam.

“Qur’an… an accursed book… So long as there is this book there will be no peace in the world.” —William Gladstone (1809-1898) Prime Minister of Great Britain 1868 – 1894

“How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia [rabies] in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. …The fact that in Mohammedan law [sharia] every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities—but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world.” —Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British Prime Minister

Here are two American Presidents who were Islamophobes. Men who made the world a better place.

John Quincy Adams on Islam
“In the seventh century of the Christian era, a wandering Arab of the lineage of Hagar [i.e., Muhammad], the Egyptian, combining the powers of transcendent genius, with the preternatural energy of a fanatic, and the fraudulent spirit of an impostor, proclaimed himself as a messenger from Heaven, and spread desolation and delusion over an extensive portion of the earth. Adopting from the sublime conception of the Mosaic law, the doctrine of one omnipotent God; he connected indissolubly with it, the audacious falsehood, that he was himself his prophet and apostle. Adopting from the new Revelation of Jesus, the faith and hope of immortal life, and of future retribution, he humbled it to the dust by adapting all the rewards and sanctions of his religion to the gratification of the sexual passion. He poisoned the sources of human felicity at the fountain, by degrading the condition of the female sex, and the allowance of polygamy; and he declared undistinguishing and exterminating war, as a part of his religion, against all the rest of mankind.”
“THE ESSENCE OF HIS DOCTRINE WAS VIOLENCE AND LUST: TO EXALT THE BRUTAL OVER THE SPIRITUAL PART OF HUMAN NATURE (Adams’s capital letters). Between these two religions, thus contrasted in their characters, a war of twelve hundred years has already raged. The war is yet flagrant. While the merciless and dissolute dogmas of the false prophet shall furnish motives to human action, there can never be peace upon earth, and goodwill towards men.”

Theodore Roosevelt on Islam
“The Greeks who triumphed at Marathon and Salamis did a work without which the world would have been deprived of the social value of PlatoPlato and AristotleAristotle, of AeschylusAeschylus, HerodotusHerodotus, and Thucydides. The civilization of Europe, America, and Australia exists today at all only because of the victories of civilized man over the enemies of civilization, because the victories stretching through the centuries from the days of Miltiades and Themistocles to those of Charles Martel in the eighth century and those of John Sobieski in the seventeenth century.”
“During the thousand years that included the careers of the Frankish soldier and the Polish king, the Christians of Asia and Africa proved unable to wage successful war with the Moslem conquerors; and in consequence Christianity practically vanished from the two continents; and today nobody can find in them any ‘social values’ whatever, in the sense in which we use the words, so far as the sphere of Mohammedan influence. There are such ‘social values’ today in Europe, America, and Australia only because during those thousand years the Christians of Europe possessed the warlike power to do what the Christians of Asia and Africa had failed to do – that is, to beat back the Moslem invader.”

Patriarch Cyrus of Alexandria on Islam
“I am afraid that God has sent these men to lay waste the world”.

Gregory Palamus of Thessalonica on Islam
“For these impious people, hated by God and infamous, boast of having got the better of the Romans by their love of God…they live by the bow, the sword and debauchery, finding pleasure in taking slaves, devoting themselves to murder, pillage, spoil and not only do they commit these crimes, but even – what an aberration – they believe that God approves of them. This is what I think of them, now that I know precisely about their way of life.”

Islam is NOT so much a religion as much as it is a thecratic form of governance which happens to have a religion attached.

Let’s take a deep breath and actually look at Islam as it has been practiced and as it is currently practiced.

Mohammed started the relgion by forcibly converting non-Muslims. If they refused he and his men would kill them and enslave the women and steal all their property. That’s how it all started.

The 400 years following Mohammed’s death this is what happened:
1) Islam captured the Middle East through brute force and genocide.
2) Islam captured all of North Africa through brute force and genocdie.
3) Islam captured huge sections of Asia through brute force and genocdie.
4) Islam captured large sections of southern Europe through brute force and genocide….

Then, Europe declared the First Crusade to protect what was left of Europe from genocide. Islam forced the West (where freedom of speech, religion and the individual evolved) to decide on defending itself and its values or to become another Muslim zombie killer. Europe’s choice was to defend itself from a violent, murderous, theocratic form of governance that happened to have a religious component attached.

Final lesson for the day (and for the Editorial Staff).

Definition of Islamophobe: A non-Muslim who has taken the time to study and understand what Islam is really about.

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The Miami Hurricane is the student newspaper of the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla. The newspaper is edited and produced by undergraduate students at UM and is published semi-weekly on Mondays and Thursdays during the regular academic year.